.env.development.local Apr 2026

.env.development.local is a widely adopted convention for environment files. The .env prefix indicates that the file contains environment variables, while .development specifies the environment type, and .local denotes that the file is intended for local development only. This file contains key-value pairs of configuration settings, which are loaded into the application's environment variables.

".env.development.local: A Best Practice for Environment-Specific Configuration in Software Development" .env.development.local

require('dotenv').config({ path: './.env.development.local', }); while .development specifies the environment type